Storoit
New member
Hello to all!! I'm a new member as of today. A retired architect, I keep myself busy with various projects of different types. I do knife making and wood working, and am an amateur luthier (right now I'm making two ukuleles for my grand kids). I have a little workshop in my garage. Nothing fancy. Most of my tools are relatively cheap benchtop types - grinder, sander, drill press, bandsaw, etc. yet I can get a lot done!! keeps me busy and sane in my retirement.
The serious help that I need is that in building up my garage I ran across an old Columbian 3060 6" vise and picked it up for $30. Now before anyone tells me its a boat anchor, you should know I've read many posts on this site saying as much, so I went into the deal on this vise with eyes open.
Overall, the vise is in very good condition, despite it being Chinese cast iron, and was used pretty hard.
the problem I have is that the main nut is badly worn. It still aworks, but I'd like to replace the nut. The spindle appears to be 7/8" in major diameter, with a 4TPI square (Acme?) thread. its steel and is in very good condition. The nut is cast iron and the threads are worn more than half through, thus the vise is quite sloppy.
Seems I have about 7 options:
1. Find a replacement nut - good luck with that.
2. Get really, really lucky and find a replacement nut - good luck with that too.
3. Find a couple of 7/8"-4TPI hex nuts and have a machinist weld them to the base of the old nut.
4. Go to a machine shop and have someone fabricate a replacement. ($$$$$$$$ - wife comes in, I tell her what I'm doing, she screams.....$$$$$)
5. Buy a replacement nut and spindle set and modify the nut to fit the base.
After hours searching the internet, not only can I not find parts for a Columbian vise, I cant seem to find any kind of nut - vise nut, or machine nut with a 7/8' diameter 4TPI thread.
6. Go buy a new vise. (Wife enters - "WHAT!! Why do you need it? How much will THAT cost? And what are you going to do with this one???Hmmmm??"
7. Go fishing.
Are vise spindles generally the same size manufacturer to manufacturer? that is, does a Craftsman 6" vise have the same size spindle and threading as a vise from, say, Wilton? or Irwin, or Yost?
Wilton shows on their web site that they carry a spindle nut for their 6' machinist vise that appears to be the right configuration. That's the good news. The bad news is that they give no spec, so I don't know what the shaft and thread size is, and they want $242 for it! Now I'm from Kentucky, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, so I wont be spending that kind of cash for a nut for a $30 vise.
Sooooooo..........
Any thoughts, suggestions, questions, or am I going to get really, really, really REALLY lucky and find out one of you guys or gals have a nut for a Columbian 3060 6" vise, 7/8-4TPI just sitting around gathering dust in your garage that you would sell cheap? I can dream, cant I?
Let me know if you have any ideas. I will be happy to hear from you.
The serious help that I need is that in building up my garage I ran across an old Columbian 3060 6" vise and picked it up for $30. Now before anyone tells me its a boat anchor, you should know I've read many posts on this site saying as much, so I went into the deal on this vise with eyes open.
Overall, the vise is in very good condition, despite it being Chinese cast iron, and was used pretty hard.
the problem I have is that the main nut is badly worn. It still aworks, but I'd like to replace the nut. The spindle appears to be 7/8" in major diameter, with a 4TPI square (Acme?) thread. its steel and is in very good condition. The nut is cast iron and the threads are worn more than half through, thus the vise is quite sloppy.
Seems I have about 7 options:
1. Find a replacement nut - good luck with that.
2. Get really, really lucky and find a replacement nut - good luck with that too.
3. Find a couple of 7/8"-4TPI hex nuts and have a machinist weld them to the base of the old nut.
4. Go to a machine shop and have someone fabricate a replacement. ($$$$$$$$ - wife comes in, I tell her what I'm doing, she screams.....$$$$$)
5. Buy a replacement nut and spindle set and modify the nut to fit the base.
After hours searching the internet, not only can I not find parts for a Columbian vise, I cant seem to find any kind of nut - vise nut, or machine nut with a 7/8' diameter 4TPI thread.
6. Go buy a new vise. (Wife enters - "WHAT!! Why do you need it? How much will THAT cost? And what are you going to do with this one???Hmmmm??"
7. Go fishing.
Are vise spindles generally the same size manufacturer to manufacturer? that is, does a Craftsman 6" vise have the same size spindle and threading as a vise from, say, Wilton? or Irwin, or Yost?
Wilton shows on their web site that they carry a spindle nut for their 6' machinist vise that appears to be the right configuration. That's the good news. The bad news is that they give no spec, so I don't know what the shaft and thread size is, and they want $242 for it! Now I'm from Kentucky, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, so I wont be spending that kind of cash for a nut for a $30 vise.
Sooooooo..........
Any thoughts, suggestions, questions, or am I going to get really, really, really REALLY lucky and find out one of you guys or gals have a nut for a Columbian 3060 6" vise, 7/8-4TPI just sitting around gathering dust in your garage that you would sell cheap? I can dream, cant I?
Let me know if you have any ideas. I will be happy to hear from you.